Introduction
As we all know, web development is rapidly increasing as every individual whether corporate or a person is trying to make their online presence on the web. And it increased the demand for web developers too. If you are learning Web Development or maybe you wanted to learn web development, then you may have seen, that there are some frameworks and JavaScript libraries that enhance the web development and speeds up the development process. But at some point, you may feel confused to choose which technology is better or which platform to choose for web development. Here comes the concept of Angular and React. Both of these can be used for web development. Angular and React, both provide various features for web development purposes such as speed & performance, incredible tooling, development across multiple platforms, and more.
Both of these are two different platforms, and they provide different features for web development. Due to this, it becomes difficult to choose which platform can be better for you to create web applications. Whenever someone talks about front-end programming, the Angular vs React topic always comes up. However, the answer relies on different circumstances and the motive of development. This article will help you to go through the features, key differences, and many more about Angular vs React.
So that, whenever you face any problem or any kind of situation choose any one of these i.e. Angular or React. You can easily choose the best platform for your developmental needs after reading this article.
What is Angular?
Angular JS is a framework of JavaScript that can be added to HTML pages inside <script> tags. It is developed by Google and first released in 2010 by the name AngularJS. Angular became one of the most popular web frameworks. It is a Typescript-based open-source platform that helps to create single-page web applications. If you’re looking to build web and mobile apps, then you can use Angular technology for creating these kinds of applications.
Angular is a structural framework for creating dynamic web applications and it allows web developers to use HTML inside the syntax of Angular explicitly.
What is React?
React is a JavaScript library developed by Facebook and open-sourced in 2013. It can be used to create UI components for web and mobile applications. It speeds up the process of creating interactive UI for various platforms. React is easy to understand and implement. The framework used by React is server-side rendering which makes it flexible and increased the performance of rendering of a webpage. React is easy to maintain and improvements in existing apps can be done easily by the use of its self-contained components. React is overtaking most of the development frameworks available in the market at the current time such as AngularJS. Due to its popularity and performance, Google improved the JavaScript framework giving it another name Angular2 in 2016.
Features of Angular
- Creation of forms with validation
- Useful for Separation of User Interface and Logic implemented in Business
- TypeScript saves time
- Angular’s community has improved the support for error handling.
- Updates can be introduced seamlessly with the help of Angular CLI
- Angular code is more clear and easy to understand.
- It provides the use of Local CSS and shadows DOM
Features of React
- It allows the use of third-party libraries.
- It incorporates rapid development of the application.
- Simple and composability is another key feature of React.
- The components in React JS can be reused multiple times which increases its productivity.
- User experience and overall performance of the application can be improved by the use of React.
- The code of reacting is stable with one-directional binding of data.
Difference between Angular vs React
The difference between Angular and React is as follows:
| Angular | React |
| Angular is a framework that can be used to update Real DOM. The flow of data is also ensured in the architecture of Angular for both directions. | React is a Javascript library and it updates the Virtual DOM. The data flow in React is only in a single direction. |
| Angular is a bit complex to understand as it follows MVM (Model View Model). Angular includes a number of tools and some features that are required for routing, navigation, and several other functionalities. | React is simple and easy to understand as it follows MVC (Model View Control). React includes features just like Angular e.g. navigation, routing, and others. But it needs more configuration setup and integration for using its features. |
| Angular is also called a subset of HTML. | React holds JSX which allows the use of HTML code. But it doesn’t mean that it is a subset of HTML. It is because React is pure javascript-based. |
| Angular is platform-independent which means it is compatible with various platforms. Due to this, the HTML language is also compatible with Angular as it also supports all browsers. | React is used when there is a need for dynamic content in the application. React also offers developers the to make platform-independent applications and it makes easier the reuse of a single source code. |
| Angular uses the hierarchical dependency injection concept. | React does not use any dependency injection concept. |
Angular vs React
| Parameters | Angular | React |
| Type | Angular JS is a complete framework. | ReactJS is not a complete framework. Instead, it is a JavaScript library. |
| Learning Curve | Angular JS is difficult to learn and it requires a lot of training. | React JS is easy to learn when compared to Angular JS. But it becomes difficult to learn React when it is augmented with Redux. |
| Restriction | The Angular framework is so sensitive that restricts you from using large models for creating applications. | In React, there is an option of putting a performance penalty. |
| Support by Community | The community of Angular JS is very large and has a viable support system. | React doesn’t offer as much community support as Angular JS provides. |
| Documentation | The documentation of Angular JS is slower due to its ongoing development. | The documentation of React JS is faster as compared to Angular JS. |
| Updates | Angular JS gets updates after every six months where it provides bug fixing and introduces new features. | The script in React makes it simple to get updates and is helpful in migration too. |
| Model | Angular is based on Model View Controller (MVC) | React is based on Virtual DOM. |
| Written In | Angular is written in TypeScript. | React is written in JavaScript. |
| Used by some popular Companies: | Popular companies using Angular include Wepay, Beam, Auto Trader, Mesh, etc. | Some popular companies that use React for their development and other work, include Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. |
| Application Types | The development of single-page applications and mobile apps can be done easily by using Angular Framework. | Native apps, web apps, or hybrid apps can be created easily by the use of React. |
There are some key differences between Angular VS React such as:
- UI Components
- Language
- Purpose
- Data binding
- DOM
Advantages of React
- React is easy to learn because of its simple design and syntax.
- The ‘codemod’ feature offered by Facebook is very useful to automate various processes.
- Skills that are learned from React are very useful in Native development.
- When React is combined with ES6/7, it manages heavy loads with relative cases very easily.
- The syntax of React is much like HTML which allows developers to create templates with detailed documentation.
- React provides enhanced support for server-side rendering making it a robust framework for specific applications that focus on content.
- Migration between its different versions is easy.
Disadvantages of React
- Some complex configurations are required when we integrate React into the traditional MVC framework.
- The developers are required to have in-depth knowledge about ReactJS to integrate the User interface into the MVC framework.
Advantages of Angular
- It offers simple and clean code development.
- Angular CLI is available for introducing seamless updates.
- The angular framework is capable of handling routing and switching from one view to another.
- The interface of Angular is inspired by Material Design.
- The efficiency of applications can be increased by the use of Angular.
- High performance can be achieved in applications by using Angular.
Disadvantages of Angular
- The features of Angular might be confusing for new learners or users.
- The learning curve of Angular is steep which means it is difficult to learn.
- Integration with third-party applications is difficult in Angular.
- Switching between its different versions may create several issues e.g. moving from its older version to a newer one.
- It becomes slow in loading when we embed interactive elements in the User Interface.
Conclusion
While there are so many frameworks available for use, every framework has its benefits and disadvantages. And choosing a better framework for the development can be a tedious task because when we are in the development stage, we may require some features that are not in the framework we are using currently. Therefore, migration from one framework to another is also difficult as we have to migrate the whole application to a new framework just to fulfil the needs of its required features.
When it comes to choosing a framework between Angular and React, I recommend choosing any of them based on your requirements. For example, we discussed the features of both Angular and React and if you look after them, and compare them with your requirements, then it may give you a clear idea about these frameworks. And it will make it easy for you to choose the best framework for your application development.
While you are making a selection between these frameworks, keep in mind the point we talked about in this article, i.e. React has a simpler learning curve while Angular has a steep learning curve. Therefore, it may affect the development to make it faster as well as slower. Even though Angular has a steep learning curve, it offers more functionality and features than React.
In conclusion, we can say that both the technologies are powerful and useful from a different point of view and use. So, choosing the right framework depends on the type of application you are developing and the requirements.
Source: GreatLearning Blog
